PC Matic Review 2025: Better Than Other Antiviruses?

PC Matic is different from most antivirus programs I’ve tested. Instead of using a blacklist of known malware like most antiviruses, PC Matic’s antivirus scanner has a whitelist of all known legitimate programs and blocks anything that isn’t on this list. I wanted to see if this unconventional approach actually works, so I tested it against a wide range of malware, including viruses, trojans, and ransomware. I assessed its additional features, ease of use, and overall value, too.

The main feature, SuperShield, blocked the majority of malware I tried to download. However, the manual scanner didn’t perform well in my tests (I’ll explain why later).

Depending on your plan, you’ll get extras like a VPN and a comprehensive identity theft protection service. All of these work well and bring a fair amount of value to the table. Overall, PC Matic offers effective protection. It’s basically a plug-in-and-forget security tool.

PC Matic can also take a more traditional blacklisting approach, but this subverts its main selling point. In any case, it’s missing extras like parental controls, webcam, and microphone protection. There are some optimization tools, but they’re somewhat limited. Even basic features like defenses against dangerous websites are totally absent.

I don’t think PC Matic can compete with the best antivirus programs in 2025. But it’s a decent, easy-to-use antivirus that provides good protection against malware. PC Matic is available as a standalone product for $50.00 / year. If you’d like to add the VPN, you can opt for a slightly higher-priced plan that includes it, offering all features and coverage for up to 25 devices. All plans are backed by a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee, which gives you plenty of time to try them out.

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PC Matic Full Review — Basic Antivirus With Unique Whitelisting

PC Matic is a basic antivirus that works out of the box. By default, it uses whitelisting to block malware, which works well but often blocks legitimate programs. You can turn the whitelisting feature off, but if you do, PC Matic will work like most other antiviruses — relying on a blacklist.

PC Matic’s Windows and Mac apps are good, but the iOS and Android apps are very basic (check out the best antiviruses for Android and iOS if you’re after a mobile antivirus).

PC Matic doesn’t have all the advanced features of top antiviruses like Norton and McAfee. It also has a major blind spot when it comes to dangerous websites. That said, it offers strong protection against malware and is well-suited for non-techy users looking for a thorough defense system. It’s available in English, Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese.

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PC Matic Plans & Pricing — Simple Plans for a Good Price

PC Matic offers a standalone version, but you can also get a bundle that includes the VPN. While these options are pretty basic compared to top brands like Norton or TotalAV, they’re decent if you don’t need a lot of extra internet security features and are interested in PC Matic’s whitelisting approach. All plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can choose between a 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year subscription covering up to 25 devices. PC Matic also offers several add-ons, including Support Unlimited and IdentityForce.

With Support Unlimited you get 24/7 phone support and remote assistance for all supported devices in your home — computers, printers, routers, phones, tablets, and PC Matic products. IdentityForce adds family identity theft protection, $1 million identity theft insurance, monitoring of bank accounts, credit cards, SSNs, driver’s licenses, and more.

Here’s an overview of PC Matic’s plans:

PC Matic — Free Version

PC Matic’s free plan provides access to a basic malware scanner that can detect and remove threats from your Windows device. However, it’s limited to malware and ransomware protection, so you won’t get access to features like optimization tools or the VPN. If you’re looking for full security and performance features, upgrading to a premium plan is the way to go. There are also many better free options available — Bitdefender’s free plan has a lightweight scanner, 100% detection rates, and excellent phishing protection. Avast also has a great free plan with real-time protection, ransomware protection, optimization tools, and data breach monitoring.

PC Matic — Standalone version

PC Matic’s standalone version includes all of PC Matic’s basic security features. It uses the same app as the other plans but adds:

• Dark web monitoring.
• US-based email support.

It’s missing a few features you get with the VPN bundle, such as 25 GB cloud storage, identity theft protections, and the VPN itself, but it can block all dangerous software thanks to its anti-malware engine. You can protect up to 25 devices and add the VPN and identity theft protections at checkout.

Priced at $50.00 / year, PC Matic is cheaper than many other antivirus programs, but it doesn’t include many of the features premium competitors offer. For example, Norton 360 comes with a VPN, a password manager, cloud storage, and more — this is a much better value.

PC Matic & VPN — Best Value Plan

This plan bundles the above plan with the VPN. It offers:

• All features in the standalone version.
  
• VPN (5 active connections).
  
• Phone support (limited hours).
  

This plan costs $100.00 / year and has a 30-day money-back guarantee. Like PC Matic’s Standalone plan, it can protect up to 25 devices. That said, it’s not that great compared to Norton’s 360 Deluxe plan. With 360 Deluxe, you have an advanced firewall, webcam protection, 100 GB of cloud storage, parental controls, and more.

PC Matic Security Features — Essential Features, Plus a Few Extras

Anti-Malware Engine — Perfect Detection Rates Thanks to Unique Whitelisting

PC Matic uses whitelisting to block malicious programs. Its real-time protection feature, SuperShield, uses a database of known “good” or legitimate programs and blocks everything that isn’t in that database. If a program not on PC Matic’s list is detected, it’s automatically sent to the company’s testing team. If it proves to be safe, it ends up on the whitelist. According to PC Matic, this process takes about 24 hours, but you can manually whitelist a program if you don’t want to wait until PC Matic’s team tests it. I like that programs are automatically sent for testing, but I wish there was a way to turn this off for privacy-oriented users.

PC Matic argues that this whitelisting strategy is superior. For some, this is probably true. But I have to object to PC Matic’s suggestion that other antiviruses rely entirely on blacklisting. In addition to malware databases (blacklists), premium antiviruses like Norton and Bitdefender use artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify and block emerging and advanced threats, and it works really well.

False positives are inevitable with any antivirus, but they’re far more common with PC Matic. This is inherent to its design. It even flagged the official Firefox uninstaller tool, which surprised me. Still, it’s easy to whitelist applications on your own. I could allow programs I trusted that PC Matic didn’t recognize as soon as SuperShield identified them. The dashboard also shows a list of recently blocked programs, and there’s an Allow button next to each.

SuperShield mostly acts in the background. There isn’t much of a graphical interface, and it’s distinct from the PC Matic app. You may not notice it’s even there. I’m not sure why this is (most antiviruses work fine with only one app), but SuperShield worked great in my tests.

You also have the option to set SuperShield to Industry Standard mode. With this enabled, PC Matic will rely on a blacklist instead. This reduced false positives in my tests, but it negates the entire appeal of PC Matic. It still detected every threat when I tested Industry Standard mode, but there’s reason to believe this will make PC Matic less secure against newer threats.

PC Matic’s SuperShield is excellent at detecting malware, but the whitelisting approach has its downsides. I’d like to see PC Matic develop a more effective way to separate safe, unknown programs from dangerous, unknown threats. However, I agree that it’s better for an antivirus program to show more false positives than false negatives. And I can’t say that PC Matic’s approach doesn’t work — after all, it was excellent at blocking all types of malware during my tests.

System Scan — Scans for Malware, Deletes Junk Files & More

In addition to the SuperShield app, PC Matic includes an on-demand scanner. Even though the description for this scanner tells you that “running a scan is not required to remain protected”, it’s still worth running every now and again. It will look for unknown programs, delete junk files, look for out-of-date apps, and do minor performance tweaks.

The scanner allows you to run quick scans, full scans, and custom scans of specific folders. You can also schedule scans, but this option is hidden away in the Devices tab.

Running a scan will double-check SuperShield’s work, ensuring you don’t have any unapproved apps on your computer. Additionally, it will delete junk files, check for updates for PC Matic itself as well as other installed apps, and initiate minor performance tweaks. The dashboard also shows your device’s performance stats, which is neat. You can even find 4 graphs showing your performance and bandwidth usage over the past week, but half of these didn’t show any data for me. Even when these features work, none of them are as comprehensive as what you get with competitors like Norton.

To be more specific, PC Matic’s scans only look at a tiny subset of files when it looks to remove junk. Don’t expect to free up more than a couple hundred MB of space. In contrast, Avira removed 26 GB of junk from my computer. This massive difference is because PC Matic is so cautious (it’s clearly the app’s guiding philosophy of cybersecurity). It only goes after temporary Windows files because these are always safe to remove. Many competitors choose a bolder approach, identifying types of files the user probably wants gone.

The app updater worked okay in my tests. I manually downgraded Firefox and WinRAR to test it out. PC Matic detected that both programs needed an update and automatically replaced them with the latest versions, but it missed that Adobe Acrobat and Slack also needed updating. Additionally, PC Matic lacks useful tools like TotalAV’s application uninstaller.

When scans finish successfully, you can see a detailed report. It shows any non-whitelisted files found, the amount of junk cleared, and any apps that were updated.

Unfortunately, the scanner has major issues. Sometimes, full scans simply never finish. I left my computer on overnight, and the scan was stuck at 90% the next morning. PC Matic claims to have fixed this issue with an update, but this was not my experience. Other times, scans would finish and provide a brief report on what they did, but the space on the dashboard showing when my last scan was performed was never updated to show the most recent scan.

I also had issues with quick scans. These always completed properly in my tests when I left the app alone, but I discovered that if you switch away from the main Security tab and then return to it, your scan gets aborted with no warning. The same bug is present for full scans.

Overall, PC Matic’s scanner is a bit of a buggy mess. It performs useful tasks but ultimately doesn’t work very well. As the app suggests, this isn’t a big deal because SuperShield does all the legwork when protecting your device. Still, it includes a scanner front and center, so you’d think it’d work flawlessly. I’ve never had issues like this with any of the best antiviruses I’ve tested.

Dark Web Monitoring — Free With All Plans

PC Matic’s dark web monitoring is powered by IdentityForce. It alerts you to things like compromised credentials and data breaches. It’s included with all PC Matic plans, and some of its key features are:

• Social Security Number monitoring. Continuously checks for unauthorized use of your SSN.
• Bank account number monitoring. Scans for your bank details being used or sold online.
• Credit & debit card monitoring. Alerts you to unauthorized transactions and potential fraud.
• Driver’s license number monitoring. Monitors for illegal use of your driver’s license number.
• Email monitoring. Keeps an eye on your email addresses for breaches or unauthorized use.
• Junk mail opt-out. Helps reduce unsolicited mail, protecting your privacy.
• 24/7 U.S. customer service. Access to dedicated support anytime you need it.
• Fully managed white glove restoration. Offers expert assistance in restoring your identity.
• Lost wallet assistance. Provides help in case you lose your wallet, and helps you to secure your personal and financial information.

PC Matic’s dark web monitoring service is impressively thorough. Even leading competitors like TotalAV fail to offer the same amount of leak detection as PC Matic (though TotalAV provides excellent identity theft protection as an optional add-on). You can upgrade PC Matic’s dark web monitoring to a full-featured identity theft protection service (more on that below). However, if that’s what you’re after, it might be worth checking out Norton’s LifeLock plans instead.

Unfortunately, during my tests, I couldn’t activate PC Matic’s dark web monitoring. Despite being included with all PC Matic paid plans, I repeatedly encountered error messages, even after a week of troubleshooting and multiple email exchanges with customer support. This was disappointing, especially since I’ve never had issues setting up dark web monitoring with competitors. That said, when I paid for PC Matic’s Identity Theft Protection add-on, I could use the dark web monitoring just fine, but it’s annoying that it’s offered with all paid plans when it fails to work.

Overall, PC Matic offers an impressive range of dark web monitoring features, covering more areas than most competing antivirus programs. However, its setup process is overly complicated (and, in my case, impossible) unless you upgrade to the paid service, making it less appealing compared to competitors with reliable, easy-to-use dark web monitoring.

Identity Theft Protection — IdentityForce Provides Protection for US-Based Users (Separate Purchase)

PC Matic works with IdentityForce to offer identity theft protection (up to $1M in coverage), which expands on the dark web monitoring feature mentioned above. After purchasing identity theft protection, PC Matic will give you the code to sign up and point you to a registration page on IdentityForce’s website. Most of its features are only available to US residents, so if you live elsewhere, you won’t be able to take advantage of this add-on.

With identity theft protection, you’ll get:

• All of the dark web monitoring features mentioned above.
• $1M in identity theft insurance.
• $1M in stolen funds reimbursement.
• Password vault.
• Coverage for 2 adults and unlimited children.

You need to use the IdentityForce website (rather than PC Matic) to access all identity features. Once you’re registered, you can add various details to your account, such as your phone number, email, Social Security number, driver’s license number, and health insurance information. You can also monitor up to 10 credit/debit cards and 10 bank accounts. Credit monitoring is also included, which is essential if your personal details have been leaked.

IdentityForce scanned the dark web for details as soon as I registered. Several minutes later, it alerted me to several breaches involving my phone number, email address, and Social Security number. It provided details about how the breaches occurred and gave me clear and simple advice on what to do to rectify the situation. I was also given the option to open a case with one of IdentityForce’s specialists. Honestly, after my issues with the dark web monitoring included in PC Matic’s regular plans, I was really pleased to see it working here.

In addition to specialist support and data breach monitoring, IdentityForce provides PC Matic subscribers with a few extras, but they aren’t nearly as useful. There’s a web-based password vault you can use to store sensitive information and an additional 100 MB of file storage, but it pales in comparison to the best password managers. You’ll have to copy and paste your credentials into the websites you use, as there’s no auto-save/auto-fill function. It’s also impossible to import existing passwords, so you need to add them one at a time. 1Password, on the other hand, lets you import passwords and has seamless auto-save/auto-fill alongside extras like password auditing. It even checks to see if any of your saved passwords have been involved in breaches.

Overall, PC Matic’s identity theft protection is good and provides a decent amount of coverage for users in the US. It’s not as in-depth as competitors like Norton, and I wish it had a similar live-agent approach to dark web monitoring. But a good amount of coverage is provided, and it’s certainly a useful addition to PC Matic’s features.

Ad Blocker — Blocks All Ads (Powered by uBlock Origin)

PC Matic’s ad blocker is powered by uBlock Origin, and it works really well. I tested it by visiting multiple ad-heavy websites, and PC Matic consistently blocked every ad on those sites.

That said, the ad blocker doesn’t add any extra features to uBlock Origin — so I don’t know why you’d download it over uBlock Origin (especially when both are available for free). In fact, when I clicked support pages in the Ad Blocker’s settings, I was redirected to uBlock Origin’s support articles! I’d really like to see PC Matic include its own ad blocker built from the ground up like competitors such as TotalAV do.

Unfortunately, for some users (including myself), the Firefox and Chrome store pages for the extension include a warning that the extension may soon be removed. This is also the case with the vanilla uBlock Origin extension. As a result, affected users won’t be able to find PC Matic’s ad blocker by searching through those browser’s extension libraries. If this is you, you’ll need to find the direct link on PC Matic’s website. The ad blocker is supposed to be automatically installed with the antivirus, but this isn’t the case since the extensions have been flagged. That said, it was automatically installed on my Brave and Edge browsers.

PC Matic is currently working on a fix for this. In the future, there should be an effective ad blocker that complies with all major browsers’s standards. For the moment, the ad blocker still works flawlessly. But there’s no telling when Chrome and Firefox might take it down and whether PC Matic will have a replacement ready when that happens.

Nonetheless, PC Matic’s ad blocker does successfully block ads on every website. So if you’re in the market for a simple ad blocker that works well and want to stick with PC Matic products, then it’s a good addition to PC Matic’s features.

VPN — Decent VPN With More Than 90 Server Locations

PC Matic’s more expensive bundle comes with a virtual private network (VPN). It can protect your online privacy by hiding your IP address, and it offers standard VPN features such as unbreakable 256-bit AES encryption and a no-logs policy. It accommodates up to 5 simultaneous connections and is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.

I like how you can connect to the best available location with one click. In my tests, I could easily connect to my local VPN server. I also appreciate how the VPN lists the server loads, enabling you to choose less populated servers that will give you better speeds. Overall, it has good speeds, lets you choose between 3 VPN protocols, supports torrenting, and works with most streaming services. That said, it’s a bit annoying that the VPN requires a separate download.

In addition to the standard security features, the VPN comes with some useful extras. The split-tunneling tool, for example, lets you route some apps through the VPN while others use your normal connection. This worked well in my tests and was very easy to use.

It also has a kill switch, which will immediately turn off your internet if the VPN connection drops. This is essential if you don’t want anyone to see your real IP address. I thought it was strange that this feature was disabled by default, but then I discovered why — if you turn it on, your connection will be blocked even if the VPN is inactive. None of the best standalone VPNs suffer from this design issue.

The VPN is available on PC Matic’s Personal and Family plans. You can also get it as a standalone product, priced at $80.00 / year. I find this quite pricey considering that more feature-rich premium VPNs like ExpressVPN can be purchased for a similar cost.

PC Matic Ease of Use & Setup — Excellent SuperShield, but Buggy PC App

PC Matic’s SuperShield works without user input, but the PC Matic app is rather buggy. The scanner is finicky, and I had issues during setup — passwords and security codes didn’t arrive in my inbox, requiring multiple contacts with customer support to resolve. Similarly, I couldn’t get the free dark web monitoring activated, even after realizing it must be set up through the online dashboard.

Despite following all the steps provided by customer support, the activation still didn’t work, which was frustrating and left the feature unusable. Additionally, the VPN offered by PC Matic is a separate app that must be downloaded and installed independently, adding another layer of inconvenience for users.

However, if you’re just using SuperShield, PC Matic does all the work for you. You don’t have to deal with complicated settings to be protected against malware. This makes it a great option for beginners and non-tech-savvy users seeking a simple, install-and-forget antivirus solution.

Installing PC Matic is straightforward. After purchasing, I was redirected to the Getting Started page on the official website, which provides tutorials, how-to videos, and FAQs. Once I clicked the “Install PC Matic” button, I selected my operating system (PC Matic works on Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS). After downloading, I confirmed that I’d removed all other antivirus software and followed the installation wizard. Installation was quick and easy.

The main PC Matic app has a very clean layout. You can run scans and whitelist apps with just a few clicks. Everything is properly labeled and easy to read. The main display also shows basic stats about your computer’s performance, which is nice.

As I said above, the scans can be very buggy. They would stop randomly and never finish. I also discovered that when I closed the app and opened it again, the information displayed was totally different. I discovered by accident that you can run 2 instances of the PC Matic app, too. This shouldn’t even be possible and revealed some odd bugs. Each version displayed different information, which was confusing and a real design oversight.

Despite being very simple, PC Matic can actually be a bit tricky to use. The scanner app is very buggy, but SuperShield, which does most of the work when it comes to protecting you, works very smoothly without any user input. Crucially, whitelisting programs is very easy.

PC Matic Mobile App — Basic Mobile Apps (Not as Good as Competitors)

PC Matic has 2 mobile security apps: one for Android and one for iOS. There are also separate PC Matic VPN mobile apps for iOS and Android, both of which performed just as well as the desktop version in my tests.

Installing the mobile security apps was simple — all I had to do was download them (from the Google Play Store for my Android device and Apple App Store for my iPhone) and log into my PC Matic account.

The apps are pretty basic — with the Android app, you can either scan apps or scan files. I tested both options, and both scans were finished in under 5 minutes. The report only showed how many applications and files were scanned and how many infections were detected. However, you must agree to T&Cs every time you open the app, which can be frustrating.

I then accessed the app’s menu, located in the upper right-hand corner. From the menu, I could access the app’s settings, scan history, web portal, and files that couldn’t be removed.

In the app’s settings, I could choose to view my whitelisted apps and schedule a scan. I could also choose to update the software only when I’m connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Unfortunately, it missed a malicious app and some sketchy files I downloaded to test it out. It does a pretty good job, but I think there are many better options, including Norton. That said, I found it really easy to access and understand all of PC Matic’s mobile features, and performing and scheduling scans was very simple.

The iPhone app bills itself as a content blocker (iOS apps don’t scan for malware because of Apple’s restrictions). It’s very easy to install, with the app itself telling you exactly what you need to do to get it set up.

Once installed, you can use the app to filter certain kinds of content while you browse on Safari. There are 4 options for blocking content: an ad filter, a social media blocker, a privacy filter to block trackers and analytics, and a security filter to protect you from malicious sites. These were all pretty effective in my tests.

The iPhone app also offers the option to monitor all devices you’ve covered with PC Matic. You can check notifications and protection status for each of your devices — this is a handy extra that the Android app doesn’t have. Additionally, it includes a feature for viewing your contacts or customers (kind of like an address book), but a password manager like 1Password is a better tool for managing them.

Overall, PC Matic’s mobile apps are decent, but they’re nothing special. Competitors like Norton and Bitdefender have far more feature-rich and customizable mobile offerings.

PC Matic Customer Support — US-Based Support

PC Matic offers US-based support, but it can be pretty frustrating to use. There’s a decent knowledge base with tutorials and email support that all customers can use. If you get the PC Matic & VPN package, you’ll also get phone and chat support access.

For complex questions, you need to send an email to PC Matic’s technical support team. I submitted a question using the email request form on the official website and received an automated email assuring me they’d respond as soon as possible. I received a response in 11 hours, which is relatively fast for email support.

However, my experience with customer support while trying to activate dark web monitoring was frustrating. After multiple back-and-forth exchanges — sometimes with responses taking up to 24 hours — I couldn’t get the feature working, even after following all the steps they provided. Their inability to resolve the issue left me unable to use the feature, which was disappointing.

There’s Support Unlimited, too, which is available as an add-on. For some reason, it comes in the form of another app you need to download. This is the only way to contact live chat support. The support I got was pretty good, but I find it odd that I needed to use an app rather than the website. I opened up multiple chats, and in one case, the agent immediately wanted me to share my screen. My questions were general, so I felt this was unnecessary.

Getting a refund is pretty easy. You can call an automated phone line or simply send an email. My initial email request was met with an automatic response asking if I had any technical issues or complaints that I wanted help resolving. It also said that if I just wanted a refund, all I had to do was reply to the email with a specific phrase. I did so and had my money back within a week. I really appreciated the fact that PC Matic isn’t pushy to customers seeking a refund.

PC Matic also has useful resources on its site, including:

• User guides that explain how PC Matic works.
• How-to videos.
• FAQs about all PC Matic products.
• Instructions on how to recognize and prevent tech support scams.

The user manuals and instructional videos are fantastic — they’re incredibly helpful if you require assistance installing the software and are particularly valuable for those new to PC Matic.

Overall, PC Matic’s customer support is decent. While email support is sometimes quick to respond and provides detailed answers, those answers don’t always resolve issues. It’s also annoying how quickly live chat agents want you to share your screen. That said, it has a detailed knowledge base with great instructional videos. Yet, if anything, I’d like to see 24/7 phone and live chat support extended to all paid customers.

Is PC Matic Any Good?

PC Matic is a decent antivirus program. Its whitelist-based malware scanner performed well in my tests, and its real-time scanner blocked all of the malware I tried to execute.

During my tests, PC Matic blocked a lot of legitimate programs simply because they weren’t in the PC Matic whitelist — but that’s OK. I think it’s better to get a couple of false positives than even one false negative. Whitelisting is arguably safer, but it comes with costs. Whether it’s the right approach for you depends on your needs. At least PC Matic makes it easy for the user to manually whitelist files.

PC Matic also scanned my computer for performance issues and quickly resolved all detected problems. I like that it provides system optimization, but it only looks for a small set of issues.

I found PC Matic’s mobile apps basic but pretty user-friendly — they’re good for people who don’t want to bother with advanced options.

There are plenty of excellent resources on the official PC Matic website, and the customer support team quickly answers questions (though their answers aren’t always helpful). Unfortunately, phone and live chat support isn’t available on all plans, which is a shame: antiviruses such as Norton or TotalAV offer all of their customer support channels to all customers.

Overall, PC Matic isn’t the best antivirus program available. While its malware detection rate is really good, it doesn’t use advanced malware detection technology, like AI or machine learning. It also lacks basic web protection and other features included in the best antiviruses with internet security. But it’s still a decent option for users who want an antivirus and system optimization scanner that’s easy to install and use, and it includes all the essential features you need to stay protected against most malware.

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